Page 6 of A Candy Cane Christmas
“You’re the one whose kid invited me to celebrate Christmas with you guys,” he finished for me. “I remember. Nice to officially meet you, Theo. I’m Luci, and I’d offer you my hand but…” He held said hand up for me to see it absolutely slathered in paint.
“Oh, uhm, that’s okay,” I said. What else was I supposed to say? “You didn’t expect me, soo…”
“So I was in the middle of work, yeah. Sorry, if I’d known you were coming, I’d have cleaned up a little.” His smile was bashful,his full lips a stark contrast to his pointy chin. “You have a talent for catching me by surprise. You and your kid.”
“Hazel, yes.”
Holy hell—ooo kitty. I was feeling so damn out of my element that I was turning into a stumbling, mumbling mess that couldn’t even finish a single sentence. Not that I was faring much better on the best of days.
“Cute name,” Luci said, burrowing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. I was about to warn him that he was getting his clothes dirty, but caught myself in time. He was definitely not my kid, hellooo, he was definitely older than me, and by the look of his jeans, they were a lost cause anyway, as they had paint all over them and were absolutely shredded to pieces at the knees.
“Uhm… thanks. Anyway, that’s why I’m here in the first place.”
“You’re here because of your daughter’s cute name?” He chuckled, but he didn’t sound mean, more like he was letting me in on a joke.
“Yes. I mean no. I’m here because of the invitation to celebrate Christmas with us.”
Luci nodded. A curl slipped from his bun and promptly fell into his face, tickling his narrow, pointy nose. “I figured.” He tried blowing the stray strand away but lost his patience halfway through, tucking it away behind his ear, leaving smudges of red on his ear, cheek, and nose. “You know, I won’t hold you to it. It was obviously the spontaneous idea of a child.”
I nodded, my eyes still transfixed by the way the paint sprinkles enhanced his features, making him even more alluring to me than he usually was. I should say thank you and go, but… I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to stop talking to him. Didn’t want this colorful guy to disappear behind his apartment door and tiltmy world into a gray fog. I didn’t want us to go back to being barely speaking neighbors.
“Okay, but if you wanted to, you could. Come to celebrate Christmas with us, that is,” I rushed to say, my cheeks burning with heat as I did. What the fu—dge was I doing?
Going after something you want for the first time in your life, a little voice inside my head supplied.
“Really?” Luci pointedly raised one of his copper eyebrows at me, the green paint above crumbling a bit. “You’d want a complete stranger to celebrate Christmas with you and your daughter?”
That was creepy, wasn’t it? Also, he was right. I wouldn’t want a random stranger to join us for Christmas.
“Uhm… no, I don’t.”
But I wanted him to spend Christmas with us. Did that make me a bad father?
“But you want me to celebrate with you?”
“Only if you’d like to.” My heart was beating in my throat. Oh, how much I wanted him to!
“Well,” Luci said, grinning at me. “I guess I have the whole of December to become not-a-stranger, then.” He chuckled. His hand chased after a couple of other stray strands that’d escaped his bun. “Hey, what about you and your daughter come to the mall on Saturday… let’s say at six? I can get her an exclusive meeting with Santa, and we can go have a hot chocolate afterward to get to know each other?” Biting his bottom lip, he furrowed his brows. “If that’s okay? I’d still be in costume, so she’d recognize me and might feel more comfortable around me. Though I’m afraid I can’t spend all my time around you in costume. Those tights are so fucking itchy, you won’t believe it. Half the time, I’d be desperate to scratch my balls.”
My eyes immediately dropped to his crotch. I couldn’t help but imagine his bulge trapped behind those ridiculous green tights, and… oh fudge, I was a pervert. Forcing my eyes away from his crotch, I felt my cheeks and ears burning. If he hadn’t figured out I had a crush on him before, it had to be more than obvious now.
This was the moment he’d retract his invitation and tell me to go to hell—ooo.
But he didn’t.
The silence between us stretched until I couldn’t help but dare a quick glance at his face. He was smirking at me, the gleam in his eyes telling me my wandering eyes hadn’t gone unnoticed. Still, he didn’t admonish me or anything. Instead, his tongue darted out, licking over his bottom lip before pulling it between his teeth.
I couldn’t help but shiver.
“Well, Theo, I’m afraid I need to go, but I’ll see you on Saturday, right?”
I nodded. “At six. At the mall.”
Luci grinned devilishly. “Exactly. At the North Pole, to be exact. Bye.”
He gave me one last indecipherable look before heading back inside.
I didn’t know how long I stood in front of his closed door, desperately trying to get myself back in check and work through everything that had happened, but it must’ve been a while. Because it was my daughter’s impatient voice that finally broke through the fog.
